The Ecology and Evolution of Color

From Photons to Phylogenies — Michael E. Alfaro, UCLA. Draft chapters, updated September 23, 2026. Not for redistribution.

Full draft (PDF)

  1. Chapter 1: What Color Is (and Isn't)
  2. Chapter 2: Where Light Comes From, and Where It Goes
  3. Chapter 3: Scattering
  4. Chapter 4: Interference and Reflection
  5. Chapter 5: Photoreceptors and Opsins
  6. Chapter 6: The Evolution of Eyes
  7. Chapter 7: Building a Color Percept
  8. Chapter 8: Umwelten: Color Vision Across Life, and the Psychology of the Receiver
  9. Chapter 9: Measuring Color
  10. Chapter 10: Modeling the Receiver
  11. Chapter 11: Pigments
  12. Chapter 12: Structural Color
  13. Chapter 13: Mixed Mechanisms
  14. Chapter 14: Color Change
  15. Chapter 15: How Patterns Form
  16. Chapter 16: The Genetics of Color and Pattern
  17. Chapter 17: Crypsis
  18. Chapter 18: Warning and Deceit: Aposematism and Mimicry
  19. Chapter 19: Signals: Sexual Selection, Status, and Recognition
  20. Chapter 20: Color for the Body Itself
  21. Chapter 21: Color Beyond Animals
  22. Chapter 22: How We Study the Evolution of Color
  23. Chapter 23: How Life Became Colorful
  24. Epilogue: The Human Eye on Color